| 释义 |
▪ I. stream, n.|striːm|
Forms: 1 stréam, stréaum, stréom, 2–6 strem(e, 3 strime, striem, stræm, (stram), 3 streume, (4 stremme), 4–7 streem(e, 5–6 streym(e, 5–7 streame, 3– stream.
[Com. Teut. (not recorded in Gothic): OE. stréam masc. = OFris. strâm (WFris. stream, NFris. strôm, strûm), OS. strôm (Du. stroom), OHG., MHG. stroum (mod.G. strom), ON. straum-r (Sw. ström, Da. strøm):—OTeut. *straumo-z:—pre-Teut. *stroumo-s, f. Indogermanic root *srou- (: *sreu-: *srū̆-) to flow.
Among the many cognates outside Teut. are Skr. sru (3rd sing. pres. sravati) to flow, sruta fluid; Gr. ῥέ(ϝ)ειν to flow, ῥεῦµα a flow, ῥό(ϝ)ος current; OSl., Russ. struya stream; OIrish struaim stream, sruth (= MWelsh frut, mod.Welsh ffrwd stream).]
1. a. A course of water flowing continuously along a bed on the earth, forming a river, rivulet, or brook.
c875Erfurt Gloss. 2036 in O.E. Texts 102 Torrentibus, streaumum. a1000Boeth. Metr. xx. 172 Swa stent eall weoruld.., streamas ymbutan. c1205Lay. 21323 Nu he stant on hulle & Auene bi-haldeð hu ligeð i þan stræme stelene fisces. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2096 Ðo drempte pharaon king a drem, ðat he stod bi ðe flodes strem. a1300Cursor M. 1316 He saw a spring Of a well..Þat oute of ran four gret stremmes; Gyson, fison, tigre, eufrate. c1386Chaucer Prol. 464 She hadde passed many a straunge strem. 1470–85Malory Arthur iv. xix. 144 Aboue ther by was the hede of the streme a fayr fontayne. a1552Leland Itin. (1910) V. 72 For there the streme of Isis breaketh into many armelets. The fery [Hinkesey] selfe is over the principal arme or streame of Isis. 1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesie 62 'Tis like the murmuring of a stream, which not varying in the fall, causes at first attention, at last drowsiness. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmorld. & Cumb. viii. 48 The River Eden..takes into its Stream the Rivers Eamont and Lowther, which make a considerable Increase to it. 1745Sc. Transl. & Paraphr. xxiv. 1 Say, grows the Rush without the Mire? the Flag without the Stream? 1782Cowper Comparison 9 Streams never flow in vain; where streams abound, How laughs the land with various plenty crown'd! 1833Tennyson Lady of Shalott iv. ii, The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 9 The Lower Nez Percés range upon the Way-lee-way, Immahah, Yenghies, and other of the streams west of the mountains. 1871Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) II. 160 The first thing the King of any country has to do is to manage the streams of it.
b. Appended to a river-name. Now only poet.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. John i. 28 Ofer iordanen ðone stream [L. trans. Jordanem]. c1205Lay. 21275 Þa al wes Auene stram mid stele ibrugged. c1275Moral Ode 244 in O.E. Misc., Ne may hit quenche no salt water ne auene strem ne sture. 1627May Lucan iii. E 6 Now downe the streame of Rodanus the fleet From Stæchas comes to sea. 1808Byron ‘Well! thou art happy’ 35 Oh! where is Lethe's fabled stream? 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xxviii, High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam Islanded in Severn stream.
c. poet. as a type of pure water for drinking.
c1205Lay. 19757 For þe King ne mai on duȝeðe bruken nanes drenches buten cald welles stræm. 1671Milton Samson 546 Nor did the dancing Rubie Sparkling, out⁓powr'd,..Allure thee from the cool Crystalline stream. 1738Gray Propertius iii. v. 47 Famine at feasts, and thirst amid the stream.
d. In pl., the waters (of a river). poet.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxviii. 26 Thy Ryuer..Whose beryall stremys, pleasaunt and preclare, Under thy lusty wallys renneth down. 1594Kyd Cornelia iv. ii. 13 O beautious Tyber, with thine easie streames That glide as smothly as a Parthian shaft. 1627May Lucan iii. E 1, And where vnder sea Alphæus sends his streames to Sicily. 1824Scott St. Ronan's i, A river of considerable magnitude pours its streams through a narrow vale.
e. A rivulet or brook, as contrasted with a river.
1806Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 610 Whithern..a royal borough..seated on the bay of Wigton, where a small stream of water falling into it forms a harbour. 1834Lytton Pompeii iii. iii, The Sarnus;—that river, which now has shrunk into a petty stream. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 412/1 Stream, a small land current of water.
2. a. Flow or current of a river; force, volume, or direction of flow.
14..in Parker Dom. Archit. (1859) III. 42 Then the strenghe of the streme astoned hem stronge. 1508Dunbar Golden Targe 28 Doun throu the ryce a ryuir ran wyth stremys, So lustily agayn thai lykand lemys, That [etc.]. 1530Palsgr. 693/2, I ronne, as the streame of any ryver or water dothe, je cours. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 87 My wife and I..Fastned our selues at eyther end the mast, And floating straight, obedient to the streame, Was carried towards Corinth. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiii. ii. 221 He departed from thence by the very edge of the river bankes, where the streame was big by occasion of other brookes conflowing thither on every side. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Gothic Wars ii. xxiii. 66 Soon after, the River had the wonted stream and was Navigable again. 1662R. Venables Exper. Angler iii. 37, I could never..discern perfectly where my flie was, the wind and stream carrying it so to and again, that [etc.]. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 460 As in rivers,..whose very essence is incompatible with a real identity: for the essence of a river consists in having a stream, that is, a perpetual change of waters. 1889Mrs. Pennell in Century Mag. Aug. 484 For two persons who knew nothing about boats and could not swim, the Thames journey with such a stream running was not promising.
†b. A flood, unrestrained outbreak of waters.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. vii. 27 Cuomon streamas [L. venerunt flumina] & ᵹebleuun windas. a1300Cursor M. 1852 Til seuensith tuenti dais war gan Þe streme it stud ai still in-an.
c. A current in the sea. Cf. Gulf Stream.
1375Barbour Bruce iii. 684 Quhar als gret stremys ar rynnand,..As Is the raiss of bretangȝe. c1386Chaucer Prol. 402 To rekene wel his tydes, His stremes, and his daungers hym bisides. 1546in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894) I. 148 Fyndynge the sayde shyppe..dryvynge with the streamys as a wayff and forsaken of all creatures. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 59 It swallyis vp hail schipis, and throuch the violence, and vehement force of contrare workeng of the wais of the sey, quhen ilk streme stryues with vthir, drounes thame in the deip. 1687Relat. De Chaumont's Embassy Siam 17 The Streams were so great, and running sometimes against us, that we were forced oft to cast Anchor; for when the Calm took us, the Streams forcibly carried us a great distance. a1830J. Rennell Currents Atlantic Ocean (1832) 22 The Equatorial Current..is, doubtless, the most powerful and the longest extended stream of all those in the Atlantics. 1849Cupples Green Hand ii. (1856) 17, I have seldom seen the Stream [i.e. the Gulf Stream] so distinct hereabouts.
d. The middle part of a current or tide, as having the greatest force of flow.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xviii. (1495) 448 Comynly the streme hath most fresshe water and most clene grounde, and rennyth moost swyftly than any other parte of the ryuer. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Stream, Anglo-Saxon for flowing water, meaning especially the middle or most rapid part of a tide or current.
†e. to break the stream: to pass through water belonging to the jurisdiction of one port in order to load or unload at another port. Obs.
1496Maldon (Essex) Court-rolls Bundle 56 No. 4 b, Misericordia xii d. de Willelmo Heyward quod fregit le streyme usque heybregge cum navicula sua.
f. Phrases. (a) against, with the stream. Often in fig. context (cf. 6), e.g. to strive against the stream, to resist the influences of one's environment, to oppose prevailing tendencies; to go, sail, swim with the stream, to yield to pressure of circumstances or example. (b) down, up (the) stream, † downward the stream.
(a)c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 70 Sing þis..horse on þæt wynstre eare on yrnendum wætre & wend þæt heafod onᵹean stream. c1175Lamb. Hom. 51 [Heo] bi-gon to swimmen forðward mid þe streme. c1205Lay. 4531 Scipen þer heo funden makede muchul sæ-flot and ferden mid streme. 1390Gower Conf. II. 93 Riht as a Schip ayein the strem, He routeth with a slepi noise. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxviii. 582 By the grete strenghte of the fysshes it [sc. the corpse] was taried, and went noo ferder with the streme by the wille of our lorde. 1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. v. (1867) 55 Foly it is to spourne against a pricke, To stryue against the streme, to winche or kicke Against the hard wall. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 195 Turnynge the stemmes or forpartes of their shyppes ageynst the streame. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 54/2 Yet suffer we all these things to passe, and goe with the streame. 1592Nashe Strange Newes Wks. 1904 I. 321 This..is nothing else but to swim with the streame. 1593― Christ's T. 59 b, Because the multitude fauours Religion, he runnes with the streame, and fauours Religion. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 43, I have done it against the streame of my resolution quite. 1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesie 57 To tell you, how much in vain it is for you to strive against the stream of the peoples inclination. 1708Constit. Watermen's Co. xxix, If any Waterman Rowing with the Tide or Stream, shall neglect to give Notice or Warning..to all Persons Rowing cross or against the Stream or Tide. 1711Let. to Sacheverel 30 There is hardly a Man, who does not swim with the Stream, that has not been..insulted. 1714Pope Let. 25 July, Wks. 1737 II. 115 No man ever rose to any degree of perfection in writing, but thro' obstinacy and an inveterate resolution against the stream of mankind. 1736Gray Tasso 15 Against the stream the waves secure he trod. 1937W. R. Inge Rustic Moralist iv. i. 234 What ought the helpless intelligentsia to do? Not to float with the stream, a feat which any dead dog can accomplish.
(b)a1300Cursor M. 4780 He sagh a-pon þe water reme Caf flettand dunward þe strem. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 360 b, They brought in vitayle both vp the streame and down [L. aduerso & secundo flumine]. c1643Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 133 But the river being deep and strong in that place where he entered it, he was carried down the stream.
g. Naut. in, † upon the stream: see quot. 1863.
1473–4Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 67 His schip and gudis that wes fundin vpon the streme and na man with hir, and was eschetit as the Kingis eschete. 1564Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 280 Thair schippis hes lang tyme lyne on the Streme, and the maist part of thame becum lek. 1577Ibid. II. 626 For bying and resset of unlauchful gudis upoun the streame. 1860All Year Round 28 July 379/2 She's in the stream, sir. Yonder she [a yacht] lays. 1863A. Young Naut. Dict. 396 A vessel in a river is said to be in the stream, when she is lying off from the shore so that they have to communicate with her by means of boats.
†3. Used vaguely (sing. and pl.) for: Water, sea. Obs.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. viii. 18 Fara vel gaa ofer luh vel stream [L. trans fretum]. 11..Charter of Eadweard (a.d. 1066) in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 193 Tolles and teames, on strande and on streame. c1205Lay. 3227 Þa olde King..lette heo fo[r]ðe liðen ofer þa stremes. Ibid. 6116 Ofer þane saltne strem. a1300Cursor M. 1843 On þe streme þe arche can ride. 13..K. Horn 105 (Harl. MS.) Þare fore þou shalt to streme go. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2508 (Skeat) Yit hath the streem of Sitho [Ovid Sithonis unda] nat y-broght From Athenes the ship. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 460 Schipmen our the streme thai stithil full straught. 1513Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 187 On salt stremis wolx Dorynda and Thetis, By rynnand strandis Nymphis and Naedes. 1551Edw. VI Lit. Rem. (Roxb.) II. 327 Also the French embassadour was advertised [of the Flemish ships]; who answered that he thought him sure inough when he came into our streames,—terming it so. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 811/1 Whereas peace was yet betweene England and Scotland, that they contrarie to that, as theeues & pirats, had robbed the kings subiects within his streames. a1593Marlowe Ovid's Elegies iii. v[i]. 81 Tis said the slippery streame held vp her brest. 1614Gorges Lucan x. 419 With fleetes he cuts the Ocean streames.
4. a. A flow or current of water or other liquid issuing from a source, orifice, or vessel. Often hyperbolically in sing. or pl. for a great effusion of blood or tears.
971Blickl. Hom. 59 Ealle þa ᵹewitaþ swa swa wolcn, & swa swa wæteres stream, & ofer þæt nahwær eft ne æteowaþ. c1205Lay. 30991 Blod orn in þe weiȝe strames swiðe brade. a1225Ancr. R. 112 So largeliche..vleau þet ilke blodi swot..þet te streames vrnen adun to þer eorðe. a1225Leg. Kath. 2479 Þet ter rinneð aa mare eoile iliche riue, & strikeð a stream ut of þat stanene þruh. a1225St. Marher. 5 Þæt tet blod barst ut ant strac adun of hire bodi as stream deð of welle. a1300Floriz & Bl. (Camb. MS.) 228 In þe tur þer is a welle... He vrneþ in o pipe of bras..Fram flore in to flore þe strimes vrneþ store. a1300Havelok 2687 On þe feld was neuere a polk þat it ne stod of blod so ful þat þe strem ran intil þe heel. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. lxi. (1495) 177 The veynes haue that name, for they ben the wayes..of the stremes of the fletynge of the blood. c1400Destr. Troy 10661 Myche watur he weppit..Ouer-flowet his face, fell on his brest With streamys out straght þurgh his stithe helme. 1591Spenser Teares of Muses 230 She lowdly did lament and shrike, Pouring forth streames of teares abundantly. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. v. 37 Traitors..That would reduce these bloudy dayes againe, And make poore England weepe in Streames of Blood. 1625N. Carpenter Geog. Delin. ii. ix. (1635) 144 Certaine pits being digged into the grounde 2 hundred or three hundred feet deep, will discouer many great Streams of Water. 1697Dryden æneis ix. 470 The Wound pours out a Stream of Wine and Blood. a1700Evelyn Diary 23 May 1645, Last of all we came to the labyrinth in which a huge colosse of Jupiter throws out a streame over the garden. 1798Roscoe tr. Tansillo's Nurse i. (1800) 33 Say can ye choose a nurse from broad St. Giles? Heedless what venom taints the stream she gives. 1812Byron Ch. Har. i. lxxx, To meditate 'gainst friends the secret blow,..whence life's warm stream must flow. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 121 The water thus collected, runs in a continued stream out of the box. 1831James Phil. Augustus I. iii, From the strong muscular arm of the knight, a stream of blood was just beginning to flow into a small wooden bowl held by a page. 1855Poultry Chron. III. 299 Glasses may be prepared..by pouring a thin stream of melted wax down the side of the glass. 1881R. T. Cooke Somebody's Neighbors 84 The sharp streams of milk spun and foamed into the pail below. 1899Lady M. Verney Verney Mem. IV. 79 Wine and ale..flowed in streams. 1913Times 13 Aug. 3/4 Drugs..which will kill the parasite in the blood and lymph streams of the body, have no effect upon the parasites in the brain.
†b. Strength or volume of flow. Obs.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. 17 Þat blod sprong out with gret strem. 1707Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 282 We must observe the Colour, Stream and Pulse in Bleeding, and stop as the Colour changes, or the Stream falls.
c. A current or flow of air, gas, electricity.
a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 211 They find great relief by the stream of air which runs along the rutts. 1753Henry in Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 1 A stream of wind instantly ensued, the violence of which nothing could resist. 1777Cavallo Electricity 208 And if the excitation of the cylinder is very powerful, dense streams of fire will proceed from the rubber. 1795Ibid. (ed. 4) II. 117 With such machines, the power of Electricity should be so regulated, as to apply every degree of it with facility and readiness; beginning with a stream issuing out of a metal point. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 491 When a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is passed through it. a1866B. Taylor Poems, Voy. Dream 66 Sweep downward streams of air.
†d. An effluvium. Obs.
1677Gilpin Dæmonol. (1867) 83 Those conceits that men have of God, whereby they mould and frame Him in their fancies,..are streams and vapours from this pit. Ibid. 454 These temptations..are like the opening of a sepulchre, which sends forth a poisonous stream which may infect those that loathe and resist it. a1680Glanvill Sadducismus i. v. (1681) 23 Nature for the most part acts by subtile streams and aporrhœa's of minute particles.
†e. An emanation. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 18986 Yur eldrin men sal dremes dreme, And o mi gast þai sal ha streme. c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 305 He..was full unwar that love had his dwellinge Withinne the subtile stremes of hir yen. c1420? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1855 With fantasyes, tryfyls, illusions & dremes, Wyche poetys call Morpheus stremes.
f. See on stream advb. phr. and a.
5. transf.
a. An uninterrupted succession of persons, animals, or things, moving constantly in the same direction.
1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 289 The which inuested her rounde with a great streame of fire and shotte. c1611Chapman Iliad xvi. 359 And then lay ouerthrowne Numbers beneath their axle-trees; who, (lying in flight's streame) Made th' after chariots iot and iumpe in driuing ouer them. 1639Fuller Holy War ii. xxvii. (1647) 79 Emmanuel the Emperour..fortified his cities in the way, as knowing there needed strong banks where such a stream of people was to passe. 1759Johnson Rasselas xviii, He followed the stream of people. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xvii. (1842) 453 A stream of bubbles should be disengaged. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxii, Streams of people apparently without end poured on and on. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 238 At present a constant stream of emigration runs from Ireland to our great towns. 1857Livingstone Trav. vi. 124 Very large flocks of swifts were observed flying over the plains... I counted a stream of them.
†b. A line, streak. Obs.
1597Skene De Verb. Sign. s.v. Actilia, Partial gilt, with spranges or streames of Gold fuilȝie. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 133, I perceived..a stream or streak of a brown stain, the breadth of a pin, in the first joint above the root.
c. Tin-mining. (See quot. 1855.)
1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 133 The principal part of the Stream..is intermixed with stones, gravel, and clay. 1855J. R. L[eifchild] Cornwall Mines 200 This stream-tin is either met with in a pulverized sandy state, in separate stones called shodes, or in a continued course of stones... This course is called a stream.
d. In a polar ice-field: see quot.
1817Scoresby in Ann. Reg., Chron. 531 It [sc. a collection of pieces of drift-ice] is called a stream when its shape is more of an oblong. 1835Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. Explan. Terms p. xv, A stream, a number of pieces of ice joining each other in a ridge or in any particular direction. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xiv. (1856) 101 Broken floes running out into ‘streams’ were on all sides of us.
6. fig.
a. In various applications, e.g.: A continuous flow of discourse, words, or of time; a continuous series of testimonies, events, or influences tending in one direction; an outflow (of beneficence, etc.), an influx (of wealth, revenue).
Wordsworth's expression stream of tendency (quot. 1814) is often mentioned with ridicule by writers of the first half of the 19th c. It was subsequently in common use.
c900Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. 94 Her yrneð up se æftra stream þære godcundan spræce, se cymð of þære rynelan þæs gastlican æsprynges. 1523Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 30 Whereoff there were no dowte but that ryght haboundant stremys shuld from his most liberall magnyfysence be dereuyed into euery parte of this his Realme to the grete Inryching..of..all suche as hereafter showld lyue under hys obeysaunce. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. Ep. Ded., This flowing streame of wordes. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV iv. i. 70 Wee see which way the streame of Time doth runne. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 177 The constant streame of ancient, of moderne Interpreters haue giuen this orthodox receiued Exposition. 1681in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 14 Charles R. Our soveraigne lord knowing that it belongs to his majesty's crowne and prerogative royall to confer dignities and titles of honour on his well deserving subjects from whence as from the fountaine all the streames of honour doe flow. 1692Ray Disc. iii. xi. (1693) 355, I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and could, if need were, produce many more, the whole stream of them running this way. 1710Felton Diss. Classics (1718) 71 For this is to speak or write English in Purity and Perfection, to let the Streams run clear and unmix'd, without taking in other Languages in the Course. 1719Waterland Vind. Christ's Div. Contents, Query xxviii, Whether it be at all probable..that the whole Stream of Christian Writers should mistake in telling us what the Sense of the Church was. 1739Hume Treat. Hum. Nature II. iii. 276 When we turn our thought to a future object, our fancy flows along the stream of time. 1769Burke Corr. (1844) I. 189 It must be of infinite importance, that the whole stream of the petitions should, as much as possible, run one way. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 65 The quit-rents..will pour large streams of wealth into the royal coffers. 1814Wordsw. Excurs. ix. 87 To commune with the invisible world, And hear the mighty stream of tendency Uttering, for elevation or our thought, A clear sonorous voice. 1846J. S. Mill in Edin. Rev. Oct. 356 Authentic history, as we ascend the stream of time, grows thinner and scantier. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. x. viii. II. 678 Friends are encouraged..to keep up a stream of talk. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. I. i. 3 The original stream of influence has been turned aside in its course. 1875E. White Life in Christ iii. xxiii. (1876) 355 For there is a broad and deep stream of evidence to show [etc.]. 1896L. T. Hobhouse Theory of Knowl. ii. xix. 465 Think of the whole page as the stream of time advancing from the top downwards. 1900J. E. Ellis in Corr. relat. Polit. Situation S. Africa 12 We want a stream of facts concerning suppression of telegrams, opening of letters, arbitrary arrests, [etc.]. 1914B. Russell Our Knowl. External World vi. 167 A truer image of the world..is obtained by picturing things as entering into the stream of time from an eternal world outside.
b. The prevailing direction of opinion or fashion. † Also, the majority, main body (of a class of persons).
1614Bacon Charge touching Duels 12 Yet the streame of vulgar opinion is such, as it imposeth a necessity vpon men of value to conforme them-selues; or else there is no liuing or looking vpon mens faces. 1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. i. 6 He reflected upon God in common events, more ordinarily then the general streame of the Clergy did in those dayes. 1669R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 427, I find the stream of this Court to run mightily against him.
†c. to give stream to: to set in motion (one's power). Obs.
c1611Chapman Iliad i. 272 Atrides! giue not streame To all thy powre, nor force his prise; but yeeld her still his owne, As all men else do.
d. stream of thought = stream of consciousness.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xix. 79 This consciousness must have the unity which every ‘section’ of our stream of thought retains so long as its objective content does not sensibly change. 1921J. Varendonck Psychol. of Day-Dreams iv. 293 Only such terminations of fore-conscious streams of thought as are in relation with acknowledged desires..of our conscious life can come to the surface. 1938W. S. Maugham Summing Up 223 Of the other experiments that have been made [by the novelist] the most important is the use of the stream of thought... It was tempting to explore greater depths of character by an imaginative picture of the subconscious of the persons of his invention. 1961John o' London's 2 Feb. 109/3 The author includes many..remarks..on the Ulysses characters, providing fascinating insights into what Joyce was getting at with his stream-of-thought vignettes.
e. Educ. A division in a school according to ability or to subjects studied; a group of pupils selected in this way.
1938[see multilateral a. 4]. 1946M. L. Jacks Total Education iv. 59 The Headmaster of a Senior School tells me that his main difficulty lies not with the A stream nor with the C stream,..but with that solid mass in the middle. 1953Manch. Guardian 11 May 6/10 On entry at eleven, each child is given intelligence tests and group tests in arithmetic and English, and on the result is placed in the appropriate stream (both the Douglas schools have a six-stream, Ramsey a four, and Castle Rushen a three-stream entry). 1959Observer 20 Dec. 22/2 Perhaps we can totter along somehow, and for a time, by prolonging the ‘stream’ system into university education. 1966J. Partridge Middle School iii. 41 It is clearly recognized that the ‘A’ stream contains the most intelligent boys and the ‘D’ stream the least. 1977J. Aiken Last Movement i. 31, I never actually taught her..because she was in the science stream and I was tutoring in business methods.
†7. A ray or beam of light; the tail of a comet.
c1368Chaucer Compl. Pite 94 Let som streem of your light on me be sene. c1391― Astrol. i. §13. 7 A Square plate perced with a certein holes..to resseyuen the stremes of the sonne by day. c1402Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 592 His brighte bemes and his stremes al Were in the wawes of the water fal. 1473J. Warkworth Chron. 16 The Erle of Oxenfordes men hade uppon them ther lordes lyuery,..whiche was a sterre withe stremys. c1530Crt. of Love 849 Now am I caught..With persant stremes of your yën clere. a1536Songs, Carols etc. (E.E.T.S.) 7 The streme shon over Bedlem bryght. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 90 A maruellous gret Comet, quhilk toward the south schot fyrie stremes terrabillie. 1680Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 60 The late comett was seen in other parts,..the starr was but small, yet the stream near 40 degrees in length. 1681R. Knox Hist. Rel. Ceylon 60 In the year 1666 in the month of February, there appeared in this Countrey another Comet or stream in the West. a1700Evelyn Diary 20 Aug. 1682, This night I saw another comet, neere Cancer, very bright, but the stream not so long as the former.
†8. A streamer, pennant. Obs.
c1440Ipomydon 1938 With shippis and sayles manyfolde, There stremes were of fyne golde. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xi. 46 b, [We] put out all the flags, banners, streames, & gailliadets of our gallies. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 643 The violet and purple colour of the amethyst betokened their shipping, sailes and streames. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 18 Out goeth his flag and pendance or streames, also his Colours.
9. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as stream-bank, stream-bed, stream-gravel, stream-ground, stream-head, stream-name, stream-side, stream-water.
1619Atkinson Gold Mynes Scot. (Bannatyne Club) 15 To frame or make a long sowgh, or scowring place, into which they bringe the streame water. c1630Milton Let. in Birch Wks. 1738 I. Life p. v, And here I am come to a streame-head, copious enough to disburden itselfe like Nilus at seven Mouthes into an Ocean. 1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 134 The additional trouble of removing back the soil in heaps, and levelling the Stream ground to receive it, is so little. 1807J. Barlow Columb. v. 39 The sandy streambank and the woodgreen plain. 1844Mrs. Browning Rom. Swan's Nest i, Little Ellie sits alone..By a stream-side, on the grass. 1857M. Arnold Rugby Chapel 95 The stream-bed descends In the place where the wayfarer once Planted his footstep. 1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 410 That day he needs must leave the stream⁓side road. 1871Kingsley At Last xi, A coarse low fern on stream-gravel. 1901Q. Rev. July 22 The country [Uganda] is almost like a succession of gigantic furrows, and in nearly every furrow there is a ‘sponge’, swamp, or stream-head. 1922E. Ekwall Place-Names of Lancashire 25 It might be an old stream-name..and might have given name to the forest. 1960P. H. Reaney Orig. Eng. Place-Names v. 81 It is also possible that this (and other names) may contain a stream-name ec(c)les, as in Ecchinswell.
b. objective, parasynthetic, etc., as stream-bordering, stream-cut, stream-embroidered, stream-illumed, stream-like adjs. Also stream-cutting vbl. n.
1626Sandys Ovid's Metam. x. 198 Streame-bordering Willow. c1630Quarles Solomons Recant. Solil. ii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 175/1 The green-breasted, stream-embroydred Plaines. 1820Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. iii. 26 Dim twilight-lawns, and stream-illumèd caves. 1820Wordsw. Misc. Sonn. iii. ii. 13 The stream-like windings of that glorious street. 1957G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. i. 47 Since there is little or no stream-cutting below such lakelets, they may persist longer than do the lakes dammed by the main mass of the slide. 1970R. J. Small Study of Landforms ix. 314 Pediments form not at the bases of fault-scarps but beneath the retreating walls of stream-cut valleys. 1973Nature 2 Mar. 40/1 In a streamcut channel, the Ganurgarh shales intercalated with limestone have been exposed.
c. Special comb.: stream-anchor, an anchor intermediate in size between the bower and the kedge, used to moor a ship in a sheltered position, and for warping; stream-cable, the cable or hawser of the stream-anchor; stream-current (see quots.); stream-flow orig. U.S., flow of water in streams and rivers; the rate or amount of this in any one stream or from any particular area; stream function Physics, a mathematical function of position defined so that lines along which it has a constant value are the streamlines of a flow or the lines of force of a field; stream-gold, gold in alluvial deposits; stream-ice, pieces of drift ice joining each other in a continuous ridge and following the line of current; stream-lake (see quot. 1867); † stream-net, a net for fishing in running water; stream-ore, ore in alluvial deposits; stream-tide, a spring tide; stream-tin, tin ore found in pebble-like lumps in alluvial beds; hence stream-tinner, one who works this ore; † stream-toll, a toll paid for the use of a stream; stream-tube (see quot. and streamline n.); stream-way, (a) the main current of a river; (b) the shallow bed of a stream, a watercourse; stream-wheel (see quot.); stream-work(s, the operation of washing detrital deposits for metal, esp. tin; a place where this is done.
1627Capt. Smith Sea Gram. vii. 29 There is also a *streame Anchor not much bigger [than a kedger], to stemme an easie stream or tide. 1784J. King Cook's 3rd Voy. v. iv. III. 67 We carried out a stream anchor, to enable us to haul the ship abreast of the town, in case of an attack. 1883Man. Seamanship for Boys 192 A stream anchor..is used for warping on, in a tideway or calm.
1618in J. Charnock Hist. Mar. Archit. (1801) II. 227 Till of late none but the great shipps weare allowed *stream cables. 1644H. Manwayring Seamans Dict. 103 Streame-Cabell is a small cabell, which we ride withall in streames, as rivers, or in faire⁓weather, when we stop-a-tide. 1805in Nicolas Disp. Nelson VII. 195 note, At daylight got the end of the stream-cable on board the prize, and made sail with her in tow.
a1830J. Rennell Currents Atlantic Ocean (1832) 21 note, I distinguish two kinds of currents. The one drift or drift current, is the mere effect of a constant or very prevalent wind on the surface-water... The other..is the *stream current, formed of the accumulated waters of the drift current. 1875Encycl. Brit. III. 19/1 A current thus directly impelled by wind is termed a ‘drift-current’, whilst a current whose onward movement is sustained by the vis a tergo of a drift-current is called a ‘stream-current’.
1902W. P. Mason Water-Supply (ed. 3) vi. 269 The forest acts as a ‘governor’ of *stream flow, rather than as a means of increasing precipitation. 1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics I. 498/2 It has been possible..to deduce the total run-off or stream flow from a drainage area from the difference of rainfall and the computed evaporation over that area. 1971Sci. Amer. Sept. 142/3 The cooling water required by power plants already constitutes 10 percent of the total U.S. streamflow. 1979Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. LX. 560 (heading) A method for assessment of effects on streamflow by orographic cloud seeding in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
1879H. Lamb Treat. Math. Theory Motion of Fluids iv. 67 If P move about in such a manner that the value of ψ does not alter, it will trace out a curve such that no fluid anywhere crosses it, i.e. a stream-line. Hence the curves ψ = const. are the stream-lines, and ψ is called the ‘*stream-function’. 1937S. L. Green Hydro- & Aero-Dynamics ii. 19 When w = ϕ + iψ is a function of z = x + iy the conditions ϕx = ψy, ϕy = -ψx are satisfied, and these conditions are exactly the same as those satisfied by the velocity potential and the stream function for an irrotational motion in two dimensions. 1979Bertin & Smith Aerodynamics for Engineers ii. 44 The existence of a stream function is a necessary condition for a physically possible flow.
1875Ure's Dict. Arts III. 298 The gold of alluvial districts, called *stream-gold or placer-gold.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. vi. 54 We stood on, boring the loose *stream-ice.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Stream-lake, one which communicates with the sea by means of a river.
1662Act 14 Chas. II, c. 28 §1 With any Drift Net Trammel or *Stream Net.
1850Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. 365 Among the minerals of importance obtained from Tertiary deposits, we may mention the *stream-ores of gold, platinum, and other rare metals found with these.
1789J. Williams Min. Kingd. II. 198 A *stream-tide and a strong fresh meeting one another, would throw some of this sediment pretty high. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xiii. (1860) 136 The common oyster..is sometimes found in the Gairloch..in beds laid bare by the ebb of stream-tides.
1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 65 It is more profitably used for melting of *Stream Tin. 1853Ure Dict. Arts II. 859 This variety, called ‘stream tin’, produces the highest price in the market.
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall etc. xiii. 403 Confused mass of mud, sand, clay, and stones, which has been much disturbed by the *stream-tinners.
1189–99in Cal. Charter Rolls IV. 63 Cum *stramtol et watertol et hamsochne.
1892Minchin Hydrostatics etc. 371 If at any point, A,..we describe a very small closed curve and at each point on the contour of this curve we draw the stream line, such as AP, and produce it indefinitely, we obtain a *stream tube. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 940/1 The surface formed by all the stream lines passing through a small closed contour is termed a ‘stream tube’.
1822Scott Nigel xxvi, They got into the *stream-way accordingly, and, although heavily laden, began to move down the river with reasonable speed. 1904Surrey Comet 17 Sept. 6/7 There would be barges moored alongside the wharf, and there would be a demand for a mooring in the streamway. 1905Holman-Hunt Pre-Raph. II. 324 Near at hand I came upon the little stream-way.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Stream-wheel, an undershot or current wheel.
1586Camden Brit. 69 Horum autem stannariorum, siue metallicorum operum duo sunt genera. Alterum Lode-works, alterum *Streame-works, vocant. 1602Carew Cornwall i. 8 Which [scattered ore] being sought and digged, is called Streamworke. 1823Buckland Reliq. Diluv. 219 The gold mine that was worked a few years since in the county of Wicklow was simply a stream-work, in which the gold was dispersed in the form of small pebbles and sand, through a bed of gravel. 1882Rhys Celtic Brit. ii. 48 Some stream-works of the Bronze Age are known to have been carried out in localities.
Add:[5.] e. Computing. A continuous flow of data or instructions, esp. one having a constant or predictable rate. Also, a channel for such data.
[1948N. Wiener Cybernetics 10 To accomplish reasonable results in a reasonable time, it..became necessary to push the speed of the elementary processes to the maximum, and to avoid interrupting the stream of those processes by steps of an essentially slower nature.] 1965Proc. AFIPS Conf. XXVII. i. 237/1 It should not be necessary for a user to decide at the time he writes a program what actual sources and destinations are to be associated with his program input/output streams. 1972Computer Jrnl. XV. 195/2 It is also possible to have streams of strings, or of vectors, or of any other data type. 1986E. L. Scace in T. C. Bartee Digital Communications iii. 92 Users may choose any application for this bit stream.
▪ II. stream, v.|striːm|
Forms: 3, 6–7 streame, 4–6 streme, 7– stream.
[f. stream n.]
I. Intransitive senses.
1. a. Of a body of liquid: To flow or issue in a stream; to flow or run in a full and continuous current. Also with advs., as away, down, out, forth.
Formerly sometimes of a river (merely = flow).
a1225Ancr. R. 188 (MS. T.) Blodi strundes streamden & leafden his swete bodi. 1375Barbour Bruce xii. 500 Quhill throu the byrneiss brist the blud, That till the erd doune stremand ȝeed. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 302 b, So sore they dyd thryst them on thy heed yt the blode stremed downe by thy blessed chekes. 1591G. Fletcher Russe Commw. ii. 6 The eight [river is] Ocka, that..streameth into Volgha. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §247 (1810) 259 The river Ock streameth by Stow. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 467 A Rib, with cordial spirits warme, And Life-blood streaming fresh. 1759Johnson Rasselas vii, The clouds broke on the surrounding mountains, and the torrents streamed into the plain on every side. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 72 She suffered the tears to stream down her cheeks unconcealed.
fig.1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 341/1 Let euery one of vs know..that vnlesse hee were stayed vp from an high by the vertue of the holie Ghost, he should finde him selfe to streame away as the water doth.
b. of a glacier.
1860Tyndall Glac. i. xiv. 98 Not a trace of vegetation could be seen along the whole range of the bounding mountains: glaciers streamed from their shoulders into the valley beneath.
c. of a road, or of land which seems to move in the opposite direction to one who passes along it.
1833Tennyson Dream Fair Women Introd., As when a man, that sails in a balloon, Downlooking sees the solid shining ground Stream from beneath him. 1864― Voyage 50 O hundred shores of happy climes, How swiftly stream'd ye by the bark! 1882B. Harte Flip i, Just where the red track of the Los Gatos road streams on and upward.
2. transf. and fig.
a. Of light, air, vapour, immaterial effluences, etc.: To be carried or emitted in a full and continuous current.
a1300E.E. Psalter lxi. 11 Welthes if þai stremen smert [Vulg. si affluant], Nil þou set on þam þi hert. 14..Beryn 2468 Part of sapience Stremyd in-to his hert, for his eloquence. 1578H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 59 Vntill the fountaine of loue, streaming from their eyes, gaue libertye vnto restrained speeche. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 82 And to imperiall loue, that God most high, Do my sighes streame. 1661Power Exp. Philos. (1664) Pref. b 4 b, They are all porous, and the ætherial Matter is continually streaming through them. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxvi, She observed the rays of the lamp stream through a small opening. 1852H. Rogers Ecl. Faith (1853) 244 The morning sun was streaming in at the window. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) iv. 98 The clouds..streamed out from their shelter into the current of the gale. 1875Clark Russell John Holdsworth xx, Amid the clanking of spoons in glasses,..the conversation streamed into milder channels. 1897S. Crane Third Violet i. 4 Dust streamed out behind the vehicle. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 81 In a short time neuralgic pangs stream along the limbs.
b. Of a star or meteor: To form a continuous trail of light as it moves in its course. (Cf. 6.)
1838Emerson Lit. Ethics Wks. (Bohn) II. 206 Over him [the scholar] stream the flying constellations. 1884R. S. Ball in Nature 4 Sept. 455/1, I looked up just in time to see a superb shooting star stream across the heavens.
3. a. Of a flag, or the like: To wave or float outwards in the wind.
1560T. Phaer æneid ix. (1562) Dd iij, Thou sawest..how his helmet crest did streaming stare? 1667Milton P.L. i. 537 Th' Imperial Ensign..Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind. Ibid. v. 590 Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd..Streame in the Aire. 1846A. Marsh Father Darcy II. xx. 346 His own man, pale with terror, his hair streaming in the wind, came rushing..through the wood. 1853Lytton My Novel xii. xxxii, Flags stream, and drums beat.
indirect passive.1907E. Gosse Father & Son 157 Dark rocks..streamed over by silken flags of royal crimson and purple.
b. Of hair, a garment, etc.: To hang loose and waving; to lie in undulating curves; to trail out, behind.
1784Cowper Task iv. 541 Her head, adorn'd with lappets pinn'd aloft, And ribbands streaming gay. 1820Keats Hyperion i. 214 His flaming robes stream'd out beyond his heels. 1822W. Tennant Thane of Fife v. xlv, Stream'd from her cinctur'd waist her long cymar behind. 1883S. C. Hall Retrospect II. 155 His loose grey hair streamed over his shoulders.
c. indirect passive, with upon: To be ornamented with (a profusion of jewels).
1837Lady Granville Lett. (1894) II. 225 A white tissue floating about her like clouds, looped up and streamed upon with jewels.
4. a. Of persons (or animals): To move together continuously in considerable numbers; to flock. Often with adv., as out, in, down, up, away.
1735Dyche & Pardon Dict., Stream v., to walk, move, or go along soberly or gently with the Current, &c., also to loiter about idly. 1815Scott Guy M. xiii, People..streamed to it from all quarters. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. i. vii, Recruits stream up on him. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xlix. (1856) 464 We began to observe too flocks of little Auk streaming south. 1863Kingsley Water-Bab. viii. 343 The sea-birds sang as they streamed out into the ocean. 1879Froude Cæsar xix. 323 Horse and foot were streaming along the roads.
b. spec. of the hounds going after the fox in open country.
1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour ix. 45 From the summit..they see the hounds streaming away to a fine grass country below. 1883E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 146 A fine big fox away, with the pack streaming after him. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 583/1 (Hunting, fox) Streaming, going across open country, spread out.
c. Without the notion of large numbers: To go with a rush. rare.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xv, It was scarcely out of his mouth when Mrs. Firkin and Miss Briggs had streamed up the stairs, had rushed into the drawing-room [etc.].
5. To pour off or exude liquid in a continuous stream; to run, drip, overflow with moisture. Of the eyes: To overflow with (tears); also with over. Of the body: To run with, † on (blood or sweat).
[c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 247 Hys eyen two, for pite of his herte, Out stremeden as swyfte welles tweye.] a1375Joseph Arim. 560 He seiȝ a child strauȝt þer-on, stremynge on blode. 1693Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard., Cult. Orange-trees 15 Whilst the Clod is thus streaming, should one put it into a new Earth'd Case, it would make it all into a Mortar. 1735Somerville Chase iv. 90 The smoking Litter..seek the pouting Teat, That plenteous streams. 1736tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. xviii. ii. iii. VIII. 426 Every part of the city streamed with blood. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, With supplicating eyes that streamed with tears. 1812Byron Ch. Har. i. xiii. Song viii, Fresh feeres will dry the bright blue eyes We late saw streaming o'er. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge xlviii, Still Lord George, streaming from every pore, went on with Gashford. 1850[see streaming ppl. a. 1]. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 18 The day was hot and he was streaming with perspiration. 1878Meredith Love in Valley xii, Streaming like a willow grey in arrowy rain.
6. a. Of a luminous body: To emit a continuous stream of beams or rays of light. Also spec. of a comet, with reference to its ‘tail’: To issue in a widening stream of light.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 5286 With stoute starand stanes þat stremed as þe son. c1420Lydg. Ballad, Commend. Our Lady 68 Lauriat coroun, stremand as a sterre. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 21 Her eye[s] in heauen, Would through the ayrie Region streame so bright, That Birds would sing, and thinke it were not night. 1608Topsell Serpents 277 About their backes there are many little shining spots like eyes..streaming like starres. 1617L. Digges tr. Claudian's Rape Proserpine i. D 3 b, A Comet..streaming o're the world with bloudy light. 1842Tennyson Farewell 13 A thousand suns will stream on thee. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 68 The Comet's tail streams and widens upward.
b. With a blending of sense 5: To be suffused with (radiant light).
1830T. S. Hughes Trav. Sicily (ed. 2) I. iv. 119 As he ascended in the sky the mountain tops began to stream with golden light. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xviii. 223 A gorge that was streaming at noonday with the southern sun.
II. Transitive senses.
7. a. To cause to flow; to pour forth, discharge, or emit in a stream (a liquid, rays of light, etc.). Also with adv., as out, forth, down.
1388Wyclif Prov. v. 16 Thi wellis be stremed forth [Vulg. deriventur fontes tui foras]. 1493Dives & Paup. (W. de W. 1496) i. ii. 33/2 His hondes were nayled to the crosse and stremed out blood. 1570Dee Math. Pref. b ij, The true Sonne of rightwisenesse..hath so abundantly streamed into our hartes, the direct beames of his goodnes, mercy, and grace. 1596Spenser Hymne Hon. Beautie 26 It may so please, that she at length will streame Some deaw of grace into my withered hart. 1600Fairfax Tasso ii. xx, That light'ning ray Which her sweete beautie streamed on his face. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 201 Had I as many eyes, as thou hast wounds, Weeping as fast as they streame forth thy blood. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 115 S. Peter..streamed downe upon the Church such abundance of sincere milk, as himselfe styleth it. 1789Polwhele Engl. Orator iv. 380 She [Religion] sits..Streaming cherubic Effluence o'er her Heaven Of spotless Azure. 1823Scott Quentin D. iv, He took a large purse from his bosom,..and streamed a shower of small silver pieces into the goblet. 1868Model Stream Eng. 19 If now cold water from a sponge be streamed over the bottom of the flask, boiling will recommence. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 143 The moon streamed its floods of light over the forest. 1891‘Max O'Rell’ Frenchm. in Amer. 268 The firemen streaming floods of water over the roof and through the windows.
† fig.1607Hieron Wks. I. 420 The best which he [sc. man] hath in him is corrupt: he is streamed out of an infected fountain. 1608Willet Hexapla in Exod. 641 Royall power, streaming glorie and princely dignitie.
b. Of a river, a fountain: To have its stream composed of (an alien liquid); to run with (blood, etc.).
1613Purchas Pilgrimage v. i. (1614) 454 A golden world, where meale was as plentifull as dust, and fountaines streamed milke, hony, wine, and oyle. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 209 The riuer of Adonis, which is said by Lucan [ed. 3 correctly Lucian] to haue streamed bloud.
c. to stream out: to exhaust by unrestricted flow. Also fig.
1628Feltham Resolves i. xv. 43 Themistocles, that streamed out his youth, in Wine, and Venery. 1894E. A. Minchin tr. Bütschli's Investig. Microsc. Foams 79 To find out whether..one can produce new streamings in drops which have streamed themselves out.
8. To suffuse or overspread (a surface) with flowing moisture. Also fig.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 302 b, With..pale visage, all stremed with blode. 1806G. Pinckard Notes W. Indies III. 207 From using only moderate exercise, I am so streamed with perspiration as to make it necessary to change my clothes four or five times in the course of the day. 1897F. Thompson New Poems 17 While his being is Streamed with the set of the world's harmonies.
†9. To ornament with flowing lines or rays. Obs.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 8 Stremyd with sonnes were alle her garmentis. 1611Florio, Irrigare, to streame any thing by lines. a1626Bacon New Atlantis 23 The Heralds Mantle is streamed with Gold.
10. To cause (a flag) to float outwards in the wind; to wave (a handkerchief).
1593Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 94 Streaming the Ensigne of the Christian Crosse, Against black Pagans, Turkes, and Saracens. 1787Polwhele Engl. Orator ii. 654 Some Bark Streaming the well-known Pendant. 1823Scott Quentin D. xiv, As they streamed towards him their kerchiefs, in token of encouragement.
11. Naut. to stream the buoy: to throw the anchor-buoy overboard before casting anchor.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Buoy. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast x. 23 After the topsails had been sheeted home,..and the buoys streamed, and all ready forward for slipping. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 162 Stream the buoy, and heave the anchor over.
12. Mining. To flush (a detrital deposit) with a stream of water, in order to carry off the earthy matter, and leave the ore exposed. Usually absol. to stream for (tin, copper, etc.).
1778W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 132 Nothing else remains than to describe the manner of Streaming. 1787Groschke tr. Klaproth's Observ. Fossils Cornw. 11 The manner of streaming or collecting the tin rubbles..is briefly the following. 1796Trans. Soc. Arts XIV. 166 On streaming or searching for tin,..another stratum was discovered. 1866Kingsley Herew. iii, Past the ugly dykes and muddy leats, where Alef's slaves were streaming the gravel for tin ore. 1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 425/2 Copper, which lies deeper in the earth, and consequently cannot be ‘streamed’ for. 1899Baring-Gould Bk. West II. Cornw. 61 Hardly a gully has not been streamed, every river-bed has been turned over. 1907Proc. Soc. Antiquaries 456 For the purpose of streaming for wolfram, or tungsten.
13. Dyeing. To wash (silk fabric) in running water, before putting in the dye.
1883R. Haldane Workshop Rec. Ser. ii. 40/2 After which it [the woven silk] is removed to be streamed in running water, and beaten, till thoroughly clean and ready for dyeing.
14. Educ. In a school, to divide (pupils) into streams (sense 6 e); to place (a pupil) in a stream.
1957Listener 12 Dec. 997/1 The Russians..neither stream nor select their children... All are expected to reach a common standard. 1966J. Partridge Middle School iii. 41 The boys are thus streamed according to recognized ability. 1973People's Jrnl. (Inverness & Northern Counties ed.) 4 Aug. 9/2, I suppose they had their problems trying to get me ‘streamed’. 1980Times 7 May 15/3, I got myself streamed at Manchester Grammar towards the sciences. |